Nelson Van Alden

Nelson van Alden (1889-1931) was an American Bureau of Prohibition and Bureau of Internal Revenue federal agent during Prohibition.

Biography
Nelson van Alden was born in upstate New York in 1889, coming from a family of Dutch origin. Van Alden was a devout Protestant, and he married a woman named Rose, living with her in New York for years. Van Alden decided to become a federal agent with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (now known as the Internal Revenue Service), a life that his wife loved for him, as she believed that he was doing God' work. Van Alden accepted an assignment to hunt down bootleggers in Atlantic City, New Jersey at the start of Prohibition on 8 January 1920, with Agent Eric Sebso as his partner. Van Alden and Sebso, supervised by Supervisor Elliot, attempted to close down the scores of distilleries in Atlantic City, and they made the local post office into their headquarters. Van Alden formulated a theory that County Treasurer Enoch Thompson was at the center of a large bootlegging ring, and he attempted to bring him down several times. He nearly tied Thompson's minion Jimmy Darmody to the Hammonton ambush, but Agent Sebso murdered witness Billy Winslow, preventing the trial from going ahead and leading to Darmody's release. Van Alden's investigation was derailed, and he drowned Agent Sebso for his incompetence. Van Alden fled the state due to murder charges, becoming an outlaw himself. He decided to work undercover for the Chicago Outfit, and he attempted to murder Al Capone in 1931. However, he was shot in the head by undercover FBI agent Mike D'Angelo before he could proceed with the murder.